The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) will receive 25 35-foot Proterra Catalyst electric buses in 2019, in response to a significant commitment by the City of Los Angeles to deploy an all-electric bus fleet by 2030. The procurement will be funded in part by Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Grants (Low-No).

Proterra battery-electric buses will replace CNG buses that emit more than 7.8 million lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions annually. In addition to the environmental and health benefits, the new buses will deliver anticipated cost savings of $11.2 million to LADOT Transit over a 12-year lifetime since they require less energy to operate and have reduced maintenance costs.

Source: Proterra.

This commitment from LADOT contributes to a larger precedent in Southern California set by neighboring transportation agencies, including Foothill Transit, The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) and Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) to go fully electric over the next 15 years.

“Our goal is a 100% electric bus fleet.”

—Seleta Reynolds, LADOT’s general manager

In 2016, Foothill Transit, a 361-bus fleet servicing passengers within the San Gabriel Valley, including express bus routes to Pasadena and Downtown Los Angeles, made a commitment to fully electrify its fleet by 2030.

AVTA also made a commitment to convert its 85-bus fleet to battery-electric buses by 2018.

This year, LA Metro, a 2,200 bus fleet, followed with a similar commitment to convert all its vehicles to battery-electric buses by 2030.

This transition in Southern California will result in one of the heaviest concentrations of electric buses in North America.

The Low-No initiative is a direct result of Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act passed by Congress in 2015. Low-No funds support the development of transit buses and infrastructure that use advanced technologies. $27.5 million in grants were awarded to 29 public transit winners in 24 states to purchase or lease Proterra Catalyst electric vehicles, battery systems and charging infrastructure.

LADOT Transit is the largest operator of municipal transit services in Los Angeles County providing commuter bus and neighborhood circulator services as well as mobility services to seniors and the disabled. LADOT provides Commuter Express, point-to-point bus service, from the San Fernando Valley, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, the Beach Cities, El Segundo, and the Westside to Downtown Los Angeles as well as between Pasadena and Glendale, San Pedro and Long Beach and from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside and South Bay.

DASH circulator bus services operate in Downtown Los Angeles and 27 other neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles. Cityride is the largest voluntary paratransit program of its kind in the nation, offering essential transportation services to seniors and the mobility challenged.